The Potions inconsistency

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 47617

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Melody" <Malady579 at h...> wrote:
> Steve wrote"
> > No one knows except Snape; a dose could be a drop, a swallow, or a
> > gulp. Quirrell, Hermione, or Harry couldn't have possibly know how
> > much one dose was. There could have been four doses in the vial the
> > let them move forward to the next chamber, but Quirrell pigged out
> > with three large gulps, which was far more than he needed, leaving
> > Harry with just barely one dose.
> 
> Umm...didn't you just contradict yourself?  You were arguing that no
> one but Snape knows how much the official dose should be, so how 
> could Quirrell *know* to take three "doses" and how did Harry *know* 
> there was only enough for just him?  

bboy_mn responds:

Quirrell DIDN'T know how much one dose was, which is why he just took
three (in my example) big gulps, and assumed this was probably enough.
Harry, on the otherhand, didn't have the luxury of being able to error
on the side of excess. 

So, why would Harry say there was only enough left for one? Because
Quirrell left hardly more than a sip. Without knowing the correct
dose, one would assume that you would actually have to drink some.
That the dose would likely be in swallows, not drops. So, with only a
small sip remaining, most people would logically conclude that it was
only enough for one.

Now if it was life and death, I'm sure Harry would have tried to share
that small sip with Hermione. But it wasn't life and death, Hermione
had the potion to leave the chamber. She and Ron could escape, and try
and get help. 

-end- bboy_mn

An additional, somewhat unrelated point.

But Phyllis brought up this point:
>In addition, Dumbledore needed a way to get in there when he arrived
>to save Harry. Unless the bottle refilled itself, he would have had
>to have found another way to brave the flames.

bboy_mn:

Well, I believe that Quirrell by-passed most of the enchantments by
using inside information. So it logically follows that since
Dumbledore was the mastermind behind all this, he also knew how to
by-pass all the enchantments. Dumbledore didn't need the potions,
because he had Snape's counter-charm that disabled the trap.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

bboy_mn